Driving in
Hollywood, an area we do our best to avoid, Peggy said shed like
to have lamb chops. As a rule I dont carry them around with me.
Not having charged my mobile phone and barely knowing how to use it anyway
we did not go to Musso & Franks where great lamb chops are served
according to their website which I found out when we got home.

Next time
we find ourselves in that area I promise to drop into to Musso & Franks
noted for their brusque waiters and lamb chops. Both are traditions going
way back to when assorted movie stars and wannabes hung around waiting
to be noticed by gossip columnists; also frequented by mobsters waiting
not to be noticed except by Raymond Chandler. What was a lamb chop to
a bad guy was bread and butter to Chandler.

I think I
like surly waiters more than I like lamb chops. A friend once complemented
a waiter for his speedy service and was told to put his money where his
mouth is. Waiters like that can make a person feel like chopped liver
but nobody can make you feel like a lamb chop.

I havent
had lamb chops in so long I forgot why I dislike them. In fact maybe I
got over that. I expect theres an unpleasant association buried
deep in my psyche. Maybe an MRI would reveal a lamb chop lodged in my
memory bank the same day my shoelace busted or I caught my pants in a
bike chain. For some reason rack of lamb sounds more promising to me than
lamb chops. After the Rams moved their football team to St. Louis some
restaurants offered Lack of Ram to remind us. But I digress.

This may
be one of the last restaurants that also serves Welsh rarebit and lobster
thermidor. And if they dont transport you back to the Golden
Age theres always their famous chicken pot pie, available only on
Thursdays.

When I first
heard the name, Musso & Franks, I thought they featured some sort
of Greek dish and hot dogs. I wouldnt advise ordering a dish of
Musso. You might find yourself on next weeks menu. If youre
looking for Miso try Little Tokyo; or for matzo go to Fairfax. It turns
out that Joseph Musso partnered with Frank Toulet 97 years ago to open
the restaurant. In those days movies were as silent as the b
in lamb. In 1927 it was sold to John Mosso. You cant make this stuff
up. It was just a case of moving their vowels.

The place
was a hangout not only for Chaplin, Garbo and Bogey etc but for
an A-list of mid-century American writers including Faulkner, Hemingway,
Hammett, Fitzgerald and Saroyan. Ill bet they all tried the lamb
chops. It worked for them. After a 3-martini lunch one could stagger down
the block into the wet cement of Grauman's Chinese theater.